truthful recorder of the phenomena concerning which he prosecutes research.

What, then, is the practical outcome of such a view of the scientific method of interrogating Nature concerning enigmas which provoke the anxieties and exercise the minds of many people?

The first suggestion which presents itself by way of answer to that question 1s, that it is as utterly futile as it seems to be altogether senseless to be discontented with or to protest against the conditions to which our mortal being is subject.

To enable us to become convinced of that fact needs no deep searchings among the mysterious labyrinths of natural phenomena, nor any attempted flight toward the high regions of learned speculation, for we experimentally know how powerless we are, individually or in any numbers collectively, to frus trate or divert even to the extent of a hair's-breadth, the action of those alldominating influences to which everything in Nature seems absolutely subordinate. To a degree vastly more than sufficient for every purpose of our existence, we are endowed with intelligence, with instincts and with will power, so that we can perform or omit to perform actions beneficial or the reverse to ourselves or to others, but in every step we take and in everything we do, we have no alternative but to act conformably with Nature's own methods. It is part of our lifelong education to learn that grievous effects ensue if, in any sense or in any particular, we violate Nature's laws, or attempt to evoke Nature's forces to a degree greater than that to which she has limited our powers of control. That pain ful or fatal consequences follow upon temerity in these respects is being continually illustrated in thousands of ways, whether, for instance, by our stepping over a precipice and injuring or killing ourselves, or by exercising our chemical ingenuity in producing compounds which, through careless or unskilled use, occasion a calamitous destruction of human life and property, or by constructing floating or other locomotive machines, which as to design and strength are inadequate for the purposes wherefor they are employed, or,

in short, by any of the innumerable modes in which through human imperfection in knowledge or conduct “accidents" and casualties occur.

Obviously, however, it is not only through human mistakes that calamities and accidents are produced. Earthquake, storm and flood in various forms, and the violence of the natural elements generally, occasion from time to time disasters of the most appalling kind. It may be that a populous city has grown up on the fertile slopes of a mountain in a volcanic region. A few ominous symptoms suddenly declare themselves in utterances of terrific import. They are such as the living folk of the locality have never experienced, and have only heard about through uncertain traditional report. Very soon fearful earth-tremblings are felt; buildings topple over in all directions; the air is filled with dust, vast quantities of débris are projected hither and thither as if the very world was being shattered to pieces; and numberless people are buried beneath the accumulating materials. The utter wreckage, to which the entire city and every human structure are being subjected, is accompanied by tremendous volcanic outbursts, and red-hot stones and cinders are being rained down as if from heaven itself. That which was not long since a flourishing city, is becoming buried in ashes, or more or less submerged beneath fiery lava-streams. Human beings and animals perish by the thousand; vineyards, orchards, pastures and homesteads are utterly destroyed. Wreck and ruin most complete are now the dominant features over an extensive district which erewhile was a very earthly paradise. Nature, in a seeming vagary, has stricken a region which had appeared to be one of her specially favored spots. Her smiles had long been lavished upon it; fresh and ever-vigorous life and fertility, with abiding peace, had reigned there for centuries, and now, behold! it appears as though a blighting curse from heaven had suddenly descended upon it! No wonder that amid the abounding misery so suddenly produced and in the presence of such seemingly supernatural violence intermittently repeated, the reason of many folk should lose its balance, nor that famine and

pestilence should be among the consequences of the dread calamity.

But there is many a kind of raid that the forces of Nature sometimes make upon human communities and their belongings, and upon the other living things of the earth. It may be that for ages an extensive region lying between widely separated mountain ranges has formed a general collecting ground for all the water there produced, and is the site of a great lake or inland sea. Every such lake or sea occupies a part of some larger or smaller trough or valley, and in fact exists through its waters being prevented from flowing onward by a partial obstruction or barrier of such a kind that it admits of the escape of only the surplus outflowing accumulations, and of that but at a feeble rate of exit. But in course of time the barrier becomes weakened by the wearing action of the outflowing stream, and the power of its endurance, which depends upon the nature of its component materials, and upon the surface-contour of the surrounding country, becoming greatly diminished, it yields more and more to the vast pressure behind it. Perhaps for some decades of centuries it had been amply sufficient to resist the ever-continuing tendency of the water to discharge itself from the great basin wherein it was confined; but at length it succumbs, and lo! the water-floods are set loose upon that doomed region !

It is not difficult to conceive what would be some of the calamitous effects of such a disruption. The ensuing inundation might well suggest itself to any surviving sufferer that the catastrophe was a world-wide deluge, and the moralists of a succeeding generation would have no difficulty in seeing in it a judgment of the Almighty for the sins and iniquities of mankind.

In our own days of rapidly diffused intelligence, we are becoming somewhat familiar with extensive natural catastrophes. The overflowing along its entire course of a great Chinese river, with its thousands of individual fatalities, and an enormous destruction of cattle and crops and other descriptions of property, followed by a long epidemical scourge arising through numberless corpses being left to decay

when the ultimate lowering of the waters caused them to be exposed upon malarious mud-banks; a great volcanic outburst in Java, with its many concomitants; an extended line of earthquake along numerous Japanese valleys; the tremendous onset, now here and now there, of some mysterious tidal wave whereby anchored ships are overwhelmed and wrecked, or landed high above the shore-line, and the habitations of seaside dwellers are swept away, are a few recent illustrations of the ravages brought about when some of the forces of Nature apparently deviate to a small extent from their ordinary pacific course of action.

After all, however, such signal catastrophes are but few and far between, and while their effects are probably only what in the ordinary course would occur by slow degrees, their painful action in connection with human life and human interests are but transient. In operation they are strictly local and limited, and, comparatively regarded, they are but trifling accidents in the working of the apparently self-adjusting machinery of Nature. As seeming examples of the inexorable character of Nature's procedure, they appear as nothing in comparison with the hundreds of thousands of instances of pain and death which are taking place in every hour of every day of the world's existence.

Some of the detailed effects ensuing through the human race and all living things which exist upon the earth's surface, being physically subject to Nature's methods, afford a vast field for the exercise of pessimistic philosophy, and probably no patronizing apologist for Nature is ever likely to find an adequate excuse for the seemingly ruthless and incongruous ordination in virtue whereof suffering is experienced by animal existence in general, and for the inevitable doom of decay and death. which, sooner or later, overtakes every mortal being.

The constitution of universal Nature, however, is not like a human document wherein are inscribed the principles upon which a community or nation of its own will elects to be governed. Nor is it a "plan" such as some theological and moralist experts enunciate as hav

ing been devised in Omniscient councils and miraculously made known to mankind. But, in that its several departments are, so far as the infinitesimal capacity of human science discerns, corelative with each other and co-operative in action, it would appear to be regardable as an inconceivably vast combination of forces, influences and existences-in regard to space, as unbounded immensity; respecting physical and material elements, as a limitless organization; concerning intelligence, capability, and moral characteristics, as an omniscient, omnipotent, and all-beneficent infinitude.

In whatever aspect any member of the self-important human race may deign to regard the constitution of Nature whereinto he is born, and whereof he is, in fact, an atom, the reality abides that it is supreme, and that its dictates are exercised irrespective altogether of the will of the beings who are governed by it.

Can Nature, then, be deemed a personality, whom we may petition for an explanation respecting effects which appear to be of so inexorable a character? Would it avail if she were asked to show how it comes about that some of her proceedings include the infliction of pain, decay, death, and the innumerable effects ensuing from those inscrutable incidents? And why her living offspring should be subject to diseases of body, of the affections, and of the mind, so that, whether by accident, or by mistake, or wilfulness on man's part, he should be liable to be stricken with fever, with pestilence, with famine, or with cause for anguish of heart or mind, or with bodily deformity or mental aberration?

Although there may be among us many a hollow form whence oracular sounds issue forth in response to the anxious inquiries of the faithful, and although the world has never been without its professedly inspired interpreters, yet a large phalanx of heretics remains to be converted to orthodox beliefs in that respect, to whom, except by Nature's own methods, there seems to be no way of obtaining a solution of such momentous questions.

However wonderfully the most complicated as well as the very simplest ar

rangements of Nature seem to act-even as though each one were instinct with thought, judgment, and reflection, and possessed the faculty of electing the most appropriate methods of procedure

yet it would manifestly be futile to make a personal appeal to what is obviously only physical; or to present even the most passionate entreaties and exhaust our very existence in an effort to obtain an intelligent utterance from what evidently is not endowed with intelligent will-power and personal sympathy.

But if the physical and material part of Nature is thus altogether impersonal and lifeless as regards its not giving any response to man's craving for intelligent and sympathetic intimations respecting matters which have so keen an interest for him, does it therefore follow that no intelligent and soul-satisfying information is obtainable by scientific inquiry concerning the objects and intents for which matter and physical forces and influences exist, and for which they perform their infinitely diverse functions in a manner which appears to have been omnisciently preordained?

The question, "What is scientific inquiry?" seems to be worth repeated consideration. It may perhaps be deemed to consist of the tracing of the modes and methods in which Nature's effects are evolved; and of the manner in which natural phenomena are produced; and of the immediate, proximate, and ultimate utilities they sub

serve.

Judging even from the merest superficial consideration of what any intelligent man sees to be taking place around him, it appears impossible, in reason, to suggest that the unspeakably wondrous universe of cause and effect, whereof he himself is a constituent atom, is but a mechanical and chemical organization, which, though seemingly boundless as to dimensions, and absolutely perfect in the interaction of its infinitude of details, yet aimlessly and purposelessly exists-that is to say, only

that mechanical and chemical effects should be forever in the course of being evolved.

Does our own solar system, for example, exist only that the sun and the

planets should rotate upon their axes, and that planets and satellites should revolve in their orbits, so as aimlessly and purposelessly to constitute a grand piece of toy mechanism altogether unconnected with intelligent and appreciative personality?

Of course, we all know that we are each of us, individually, members-infinitesimal members, no doubt of something very different from that. At every step we take in our daily lives, we find ourselves surrounded by a multitude of circumstances and subject to numerous incidents, each of which is referable to the regular and constant operation of some of Nature's methods and processes. Who is there who does not perceive that every breath of wind that blows, and every ray of light that manifests itself, and all the grains of matter which hold together and form the greater part of our spherical world, have their utilities among millions of other like means and agencies with special reference to the mysterious origination and development of vegetable and animal life? Between what is seemingly the merest dead matter of the nether rocks and the most intellectual and cultured of human beings, what an unutterably vast range is there of Nature's provisions and operations! The influences stored up in a microscopical seed, the arrangements for its quickening and nurture in the soil, its airgrowth, and its continued nutrition through leaves and roots, its maturing and the part of its physiology which displays itself in flowers and fruit, and ensures a superabundant perpetuation of its kind; in that single instance of one of Nature's productions, what a lengthened chain of development is involved! How completely does every phase of the plant's career seem to be provided for! By a profoundly subtle interaction of elements at her disposal, Nature has produced a marvellous physical and material structure, which also contained, in its most incipient stage, another principle or influence-to wit, vitality without which it would have been but a mere atom of dead matter. And, similarly, through all the phases of locomotive life, by what an infinitude of simple provisions is the well-being and healthy development of each indi

vidual secured! the maturing of the incipient being in the womb, or by other modes; the instinctive solicitude of the parent as a safeguard of offspring-life, are simple illustrations out of millions and millions of instances of Nature's apparently pre-ordained methods.

Whether it be in the formation of suns, as may be conjectured, out of elements existing in universal space, and the maturing of those inconceivably vast collections of gaseous material until they acquire a condition wherein. they are fitted to throw off semi-molten masses which immediately acquire a rotary motion on axis, and begin to revolve in orbit about the primary, or the gradual condensation of such a projected mass, and its preparation for the inauguration of living organisms upon and around its surface, such as the geology of our own planet seems to show has taken place; whether it be the seeming ebb and flow of the seas and oceans of our world; whether it be that wonderful influence or supposed influence, to which the name of gravi tation has been given; or whether it be the originating and the development of a grass-blade, or of tiny color-streaks upon a flower, there seems to be and to have been somewhere or somehow in exercise in and among all such operations, an intelligence which we can only regard as omuiscient, a power which we can only conceive to be omnipotent; and a character which is necessarily regardable as all-beneficent.

What a proud and magnificent position is it in which an intelligent man attempts to pose when he assumes pessimistic airs and remonstrates with the constitution of Nature on account of its having been so arranged that many things occur in a way which has not his approval! That humble-minded individual would, however, appear justified in not giving a willing acquiescence to some of the inexorable methods in Nature's programme. That weakness and decay should inevitably overtake one; that our mortal structure should be liable to all sorts of maladies that our mental vision is utterly powerless to penetrate the veil of death; that we should be left in absolute ignorance whether any part of our being survives when the mortal tenement is bereft of

;

the spirit which animated it, are matters about which we may argue and spec. ulate and invent theories, and formulate theological creeds, and as to which some folk are induced to believe that miraculous intimations have been conveyed to mankind by some method which does not appear to be traceable within the range of Nature's illimitable domain.

And yet it is perfectly obvious, withal, that Nature's methods and processes are altogether invisible to mortal vision and imperceptible to mortal touch. The influence, or force, or whatever it is, which in the language of science is spoken of as "gravitation" and which appears to rule the universe, and that which consists of or occasions chemical action and seems to be equally extensive in operation, are only palpable through the effects evolved by their supposed instrumentality. A cannonball may come to us in a very demonstrative form, but the force which sends it on its career is never seen. The life or vitality of an organism is assuredly invisible in whatever way it may be deemed to exist, whether as a material part of a material body, or as something which is immaterial and not a mere physical part of it.

It seems unquestionable, then, that we live in the presence of unseen powers or influences, and that our very existence, including the maintenance of our being for longer or shorter periods, is somehow due to the methods in which they, or some of them, act together, and that everything we behold, or that we can touch or handle, is necessarily attributable to them.

If such a conception of Nature be correct, the universe itself seems to be regardable as of a dual character, the one part consisting of phenomena which the scientific explorer seeks to trace out and to follow through their seemingly interminable and infinitely complicated modes of causation, and the other as comprising powers or influences, which, although affecting and sustaining us at every instant, are nevertheless such that the human faculties are only capable of forming more or less reasonable inferences or conjectures concerning them.

If one's consideration of phenomena be given in a general sort of way, even

to what is only mundane, into what an infinitely complicated and infinitely various an array of causation and effect do we seem to enter! Is it to be marvelled at, that the ultra sentimental and ultra-poetic mind of savage and uncultured man should be utterly overwhelmed with a sense of the sublime magnificence of the wondrous effects he beholds in every direction to which his vision is directed? Can the sun and moon and stars be anything less than divine personalities, seeing how majestically they march from one side to the other of heaven's blue dome? Are they not evidently capable of being displeased, when, as they oftentimes do, they hide their countenances from human sight, and send violent deluges upon the earth, and hurl forth destructive hurricanes upon men and cattle, and upon the crops which are necessary for their sustenance? Can it be otherwise than by divine magic that vast mountain ranges should so often appear along the far-off horizon as the great day-king is completing his ever watchful march? By what can those sparklings upon lake and river surface be occasioned, as they come and go with such instantaneous activity, if not by tiny water-sprites issuing forth in myriads from their hiding-places to greet the sun upon his first appearance above the eastern hills? How come the leafy slopes to put on such intense autumn colorings if no unseen spirits steal forth in the cold hours of the night to effect the mystic artistry?

But for the imaginative faculty, the experience of childhood would be deprived of more than half its pleasures; and, in like manner, but for the supposed personality which primitive man attributes to the influences of Nature whence phenomena are evolved, his existence would be dispossessed of a large proportion of its interests.

And are phenomena, so many of which are objects of faith, and of intense concern to children and to a vast number of the simple folk of the earth, by reason of their imagined personality, of less keen regard to the scientific inquirer because he perceives that they are only phenomena or manifestations. of a more or less permanent character, and are due to the operation of unseen